Whether it’s due to hard work, instincts, or the fact he’s been playing basketball since third grade, Montrose’s Brad Warren often knows where the ball will land after hitting the rim.

His offensive rebounds and put-backs Friday accounted for much of Montrose’s offense in its 53-37 win over the host Central boys basketball team.

Warren had 17 points.

Nathan Hawley chipped in 13 points for the Indians (14-2, 3-0 Southwestern League), who have won 10 straight.

“I guess I subconsciously know where the ball is going to be,” Warren said. “Seems like their shots this game were going long, so I went to the opposite side of the rim.”

Central (0-15, 0-3) was led by Taylor Sanchez’s 10 points.

Sanchez, a quarterback in football, occasionally found himself in collisions with Montrose’s Cameron Jones.

The two know each other from the fall. Jones was a wide receiver and cornerback, shadowing Sanchez’s targets, sometimes darting to the line to hit the Central quarterback.

On the basketball court, they took a turn cracking each other and helping each other off the hardwood.

“Football and basketball both have some contact,” said Jones, who had 12 points. “In basketball, we just go like if we had pads on.”

It was that kind of game — fastbreak points, bumps in the paint and a Montrose defense that held Central to 13 field goals.

The Indians led 25-20 at halftime, but increased their lead in the third with such defense.

Sometimes Warren would be open down low for an easy layup; other times Hawley would snake into the lane on an inbounds pass for an easy basket, like he did with 5 minutes left in the third to give Montrose a 43-28 lead.

Later in the quarter, Warren tried to finish with a dunk, but was fouled.

“It was kind of a ho-hum game,” Montrose coach Martin Maloney said. “We left a lot of points out on the floor.”

Montrose’s only losses have come to D’Evelyn and, in its last setback Dec. 9, Windsor.

The Indians play Fruita Monument on Tuesday and Grand Junction on Friday.

Montrose’s post combination of Warren and Hawley could be an interesting matchup against Fruita’s Drew Bridges and Alex Padgett.

“They’re tough,” Maloney said. “But we’re going to show up and hopefully play our best basketball.”

He hopes they play quite a bit better than they did Friday.

Montrose’s 52 points was well below the 67.9 points per game it’s averaged during its 10-game win streak.

The Indians simply put the ball on the rim instead of through it.

Just one of those games, Maloney said.

“Nathan Hawley had an off game; he usually leads us offensively,” Maloney said. “But Warren filled in for him. And defensively we played outstanding.”

They did so despite the fact they were playing in the face of Central’s 6-foot-8 Trent Coleman, who had two points.

“He was really tall,” Warren said. “At first you find out what guys like that can do against you. You kind of find our their strengths and weaknesses.”

Central looked as though it would make it a closer game when, late in the second quarter, Warriors’ junior Preston Grandbouche hit a 3-pointer to pull Central to 23-19.

Grandbouche finished with eight points and two 3-pointers.

Robert Chandler had nine points for Central, seven of which came in the first half.